Company
About Playhead
Playhead is a competitor ad analysis tool. It watches any video ad, yours or a competitor's, and reports how it is built, with the second of every moment. We build it for performance marketers, creative strategists and agencies.
What Playhead does
Competitor ad analysis
Paste the link of any ad, a competitor's included, or upload the file. Playhead watches the ad and fills 34 fields: the hook, every beat, every claim, the offer and the call to action. Each field names the second it happens at, and the analysis is saved to your dashboard. You connect no ad account.
Ad set comparison
Put up to 10 ads in one set. Playhead reads each ad on its own, then counts what the winners share and a control does not. The rows where the ads disagree come first.
Video reading for AI agents
The same engine reads any video from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X, Vimeo and Reddit, or from a file on your computer. Agents connect to it over a hosted MCP server, and developers call it over a REST API. The answer comes back in words, with the second of every moment.
What makes Playhead different
It takes apart any ad, a competitor's included
Playhead reads an ad by its link and names the second each thing happens, so an ad you did not make reads the same as your own. Motion analyses the ads of the account you connect to it. Foreplay and Atria find and save ads, and you watch them yourself. We read their pages on Sep 14, 2026 and again on 23 September 2026.
Numbers are counted, never estimated
The cuts, the cuts a second, the median shot and the second the product appears are counted frame by frame from the file. A model never guesses them. The hook is sorted into 15 kinds, and each ad is cut into beats from a list of 7, so you can count a set of ads.
It starts at $19 a month
The Creator plan costs $19 a month, and the free plan holds 50,000 credits a month with no card. Motion starts at $750 a month and Foreplay at $59 for one user. The Playhead price follows the video you read, not the ad spend of your account.
Monthly billing, and you cancel in the product
Every paid plan is billed by the month, or by the year at 25 per cent off. You cancel in the dashboard, and the plan runs to the end of the period you paid for. Atria and Superads show their annual rate as the headline price, and their pages do not show the monthly price beside it.
It works inside your AI agent
Playhead is an MCP server, so Claude, Claude Code, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor and VS Code can read an ad in the middle of a conversation. Every plan includes the connector and the full API. Atria allows 600 MCP calls a month on its $129 tier.
Who uses Playhead
We build Playhead for these teams:
- Performance marketers at direct-to-consumer brands that run video ads on Meta and TikTok
- Creative strategists at agencies who take competitor ads apart by hand
- Media buyers who compare a set of ads and want to know why one of them won
- UGC creators who study the hooks of ads that worked
- Developers who build AI agents that must watch a video
The team behind Playhead
Maximilian Moj, founder
Maximilian Moj founded Playhead in July 2026 in Cologne, Germany. Maximilian Moj builds the product and answers the mail.
How Playhead started
Playhead started as a tool that lets an AI agent watch a video. Agents could read text and pictures, but a video was closed to them. In September 2026 the same engine turned to ads, because a strategist spends about ten minutes to take one short ad apart by hand.
Who works on Playhead
Playhead is a sole trader business in Germany. There is no sales team and no account manager, so the person who builds the product reads your mail.
How Playhead works
You start without an account
Paste the link of an ad on the home page, and Playhead reads it. The first runs need no account and no card. A free account holds 50,000 credits a month and saves every run.
An ad is read in seconds
In our measurement on Sep 14, 2026, Playhead read a 5 second ad in 12.05 seconds. A longer video takes longer, and the dashboard shows each step while it runs.
There is no onboarding call
Everything is self-serve. To use Playhead in your agent, follow the connection guide for your client. The documentation holds every call of the API.
You talk to the founder, and you get an answer in 12 hours
Write to [email protected], or call +49 157 30494015. The mail goes to the person who builds the product, and you get an answer in less than 12 hours.
Key facts
- Company name
- Playhead
- Type
- Competitor ad analysis software for video ads, with a hosted API and a hosted MCP server
- Founded
- July 2026
- Founder
- Maximilian Moj
- Headquarters
- Cologne, Germany
- Website
- tryplayhead.com
- Core offering
- Competitor ad analysis that names the second of every moment in a video ad
- Pricing
- Free with 50,000 credits a month. Creator $19, Pro $39 and Studio $109 a month. The API costs $16.67 for each million credits, with no subscription.
- Contract terms
- Monthly, or yearly at 25 per cent off. You can cancel at any time in the dashboard.
- Services
- Competitor ad analysis, ad set comparison, public ad teardowns, video reading over an API and an MCP server
- Video sources
- YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X, Vimeo and Reddit, the Meta Ad Library, and files that you upload
- Works in
- Claude, Claude Code, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor and VS Code
- Communication
- Email to [email protected], telephone +49 157 30494015. An answer in less than 12 hours.
- Competitors
- Motion, Foreplay, Atria, Superads and VidMob
- Legal
- Imprint
Frequently asked questions
Is Playhead free?
Yes, to start. The free plan holds 50,000 credits a month and needs no card. Paid plans start at $19 a month.
Does Playhead watch the video itself?
Yes. Playhead opens the frames of the ad and names the second each thing happens. The cuts and the pace are counted from the file, and a model does not guess them.
Does Playhead connect to my ad account?
No. Playhead holds no spend, no click-through rate and no hook rate. It tells you how an ad is built, and your ad account tells you how the ad performed.
Which videos can Playhead read?
A link from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X, Vimeo and Reddit, a link from the Meta Ad Library, or a file that you upload. Playhead gets the video and reads it.
Can I use Playhead in Claude or ChatGPT?
Yes. Playhead is a hosted MCP server, and the connector works in Claude, Claude Code, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor and VS Code. Every plan includes it.
Who is behind Playhead?
Maximilian Moj founded Playhead in July 2026. The business is registered in Cologne, Germany, and the imprint gives the full address.
Can I cancel at any time?
Yes. You cancel in the dashboard, and the plan runs to the end of the period you paid for. We charge you nothing after that date.